Introduction
Jeannie is the CEO of PulsePoint Solutions, a digital marketing company. With the rise of generative AI technologies, she is wondering whether it would be worth it to take the leap and integrate Gen AI chatbots into their existing workflows.
To Chat, or Not to Chat
Ultimately, I am of the opinion that they should wait to deploy an AI chatbot, at least until the technology has had more time to develop. As John Bart noted, the AI chatbots present as an exciting investment into enhancing the client experience with chatbots that are conversant, empathetic, and capable of handling complicated requests. At the same time, however, Jeannie expresses her hesitations with the new technology—hallucinations, data privacy concerns, service outages, etc. She sees it as an uncertain gamble for the time being, one that could end up doing more harm to the company than good.
From what can be gathered based on the article, it seems that PulsePoint Solutions is already doing well for themselves, even without investing in Gen AI chatbots. The have a solid client base, and sone of their largest clients, Orion, even mentioned that they wish to be exempt from the Gen AI chatbots should PulsePoint Solutions end up implementing them. From all this, the signals would indicate that now is not the best time for PulsePoint Solutions to deploy a Gen AI chatbot.
Considerations
On one hand, leveraging Gen AI comes with its advantages. These chatbots work 24/7 and respond nearly instantly, meaning any prospective clients could start a conversation at any time, which would be a game changer for international clients that work in a different time zone. Furthermore, as these chatbots have proven to be competent, consistent, and convenient, their use could reduce its resource spend on menial labor, which would allow them to invest more time and money into their creative departments, which would be a boon for a digital marketing company.
On the other hand, being too enthusiastic about Gen AI could come with its own drawbacks. For one, as Jeannie points out, there are concerns about hallucinations, wherein the chatbot may invent information on the spot. If the chatbot were to give a client false information, that would significantly hurt the company’s chance of closing a sale, as well as the company’s reputation to other prospective clients. Additionally, there are data privacy concerns with these chatbots because there is not a whole lot of regulation around AI companies’ use of customer data within these chat logs. If clients were to discuss sensitive matters with the AI chatbot, there is a chance that that data could be leaked if the AI company were to be compromised in anyway. Furthermore, if the AI company ever had an outage, PulsePoint Solutions would be out of luck.
Thus, while Gen AI is a promising technology, it may be best for PulsePoint Solutions to wait it out until this technology can be safe enough to use while mitigating the above concerns.
